My grandma's old trick for stretching ground beef finally clicked for me

I used to think adding a can of black beans to a pound of meat was just for burritos, but last month I tried it in my spaghetti sauce and it cut my grocery bill by almost $5 a week. Has anyone else had luck mixing in stuff like lentils or mushrooms to make a little meat go further?

3 comments

3 Comments

graceprice1mo ago

My grandma used to do the same thing with mushrooms, like half a pound of finely chopped cremini mushrooms mixed into a pound of beef for meatloaf. At first I thought it would be weird but the mushrooms soak up all the juices and it kept the meatloaf really moist. Lentils work great too but you gotta cook them first and mash them up a bit so they blend in. I started doing this with taco meat too and honestly my family likes it better now because the texture is less greasy.

craig.tessa1mo ago

Hold up @graceprice I think you meant portobello mushrooms not cremini, cremini are just baby portobellos anyway but they work the same way for moisture. Your grandma had the right idea those mushrooms are perfect for stretching meat.

tyler49225d ago

Wait have you tried grating them instead of chopping? Gets em even finer so you barely notice the texture and they just melt into the meat. I started doing that with zucchini too for the same reason, good way to sneak extra veggies in for picky kids.